A Summer Song
by ArtemisEmerald
Summary: Steve thought he was pretty content with the way his life was heading, until Catherine showed up on his doorstep with a surprise he never expected. The surprise leads to unexpected revelations between him and Danny. Full summary inside. SLASH SteveDanny. Title changed to fit planned story arc.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** A Summer's Song  
><strong>Author:<strong> ArtemisEmerald aka mneme2434  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>…Please, like I'm making money off this.  
><strong>Final Word Count:<strong> 17,710  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13/low R  
><strong>CharactersPairings:** Steve/Danny, Grace, Rachel, Chin, Kono 

**Summary:** Steve thought he was pretty content with the way his life was heading, until Catherine showed up on his doorstep with a surprise he never expected. The surprise leads to unexpected revelations between him and Danny, and the future starts to look even more promising. That is, until one person decides a little revenge against Steve is in order and causes Steve to question whether he made the right choices.

**A/N:** So this is a big whopping A/U that veers off at the end of season one and totally ignores Jenna. She just wouldn't work with me. Also, I like how sassy Rachel is so I decided to forgo any sort of bashing in this. Oh and this was written for the 2011 Hawaii 5-0 bigbang.

A/N 2: Title was originally Autumn's Lullaby. I changed it for a couple of reasons. One, I have a planned story arc for this that I will eventually get around to writing. Four stories in total. Two, and this is one that I'm surprised no one mentioned to be honest, the story takes place in the summer…thus the new title.

Chapter one

Steve unlocked the front door and nearly fell into the house from the exhaustion that was slowly engulfing him. The case he and the team had been working had been long, tedious, and at times nightmare inducing but they had finally solved it that afternoon. Usually, solving such a big case would lead to drinks out to celebrate the wrap up, but this one had been too long and too rough. All four of them agreed unanimously to go their separate ways to unwind.

He knew, of course, where each of his team members had ended up. Steve smiled slightly to himself as he made his way into the kitchen. Chin went home to his bike and a long, solitary, ride up in the mountains. Kono was off to the beach to take her anguish out on the waves, and Danny…Danny went home to spend an hour on the phone with Grace.

Steve pulled a beer from the fridge and popped the top, glancing at the clock as he did so. It was nearing Grace's bedtime and he had to admit, he really wanted to hear Danny's voice just one more time before he succumbed to the sleep that was slowly tugging at him. If he waited another ten minutes, Danny would no longer be talking to his daughter.

He sighed and took a swig of the rapidly warming beer in his hands before turning and heading out back, bypassing the phone completely. He dropped onto a lounge chair and stared out at the ocean, wondering how his life had gotten to this point. The point being, that is, that he needed to hear a familiar jersey accent to help him calm down and relax.

It's not like he often hit the point where he needed Danny to blather on about something in order to unwind. In fact, Steve felt fairly content with the way his life was right now and he rarely let himself get that high strung on principle. He loved his place with five-o, loved that he could still get the adrenalin rushes that had been common place during his time as a SEAL but without the worry of where he was going next or which of his comrades was going to drop next to him from either enemy or friendly fire. Sure, he still had teammates to worry about, but it seemed easier when it was just the four of them and they always had a vague idea about the situation they were heading into.

He also loved his teammates. The four of them had quickly become as close as family, once the rough edges of their personalities smoothed to fit each other. Chin was no longer so protective of Kono, Danny was opening up to them more without all the yelling and Kono was fast becoming a very good officer and someone they could all trust to watch their backs without worry.

There were downsides, of course. His dad's murder, his mom's case…Hesse, the fucker. Those were all still there at the back of his mind, waiting to push out at the most inopportune time. He still felt an overwhelming sense of guilt at times about Mary and having to force her back off the island to keep her safe.

The good always seemed to outweigh the bad, though, even when cases like the one they just finished cropped up. Too many kids dead because of an asshole with a problem, too many parents grieving over what their child had become. Steve tossed back the rest of the beer and tried to force his thoughts towards more pleasant things.

He glanced over his shoulder at the backdoor. He still would have liked to hear Danny's voice, but now….he was too damned comfortable to get up, even if he was feeling a little whimsical. He snorted to himself. Whimsical. That would be one of Danny's words, one of the big ones he liked to throw around just to get a reaction out of the rest of them.

Steve grinned and went to take another drink of his beer. He had it halfway up to his mouth before he remembered that he had finished it off. Sadly, that's what thinking about Danny did to him. It made him forget things. Steve wasn't an idiot. He knew it for what it was. He had fallen in love with his irascible partner. The thing that always got Steve was that he could never recall just when he had fallen.

He remembered with perfect clarity when he first realized and _admitted_ to himself about his feelings, but the fall had been so gradual that it had literally snuck up on him. The realization, however, had come just after the president had signed the repeal for DADT and he had felt free enough to realize just what it was that he was feeling. Since he was never one to hide from himself, the admittance came at the same time. That was also when he had finally broken things off with Catherine.

The last time he had slept with her, at the end of January, he had felt like he was cheating on Danny or something. It probably would have led to an awkward morning after if they hadn't had the fake tsunami warning. They had then had a long talk after the case had been solved and thankfully Catherine had understood.

He just couldn't bring himself to tell Danny. He didn't consider himself a coward in the least, but even the thought of putting his feelings out there left an ache in his chest at the vulnerability of it. It didn't help either that Danny was not only his best friend but also more than likely straight. He knew, thanks to some past cases, that Danny was in no way homophobic but that didn't help the worry that his admission would strain their current relationship in some way. The strain would most likely be due from the heartache on Steve's end and the guilt on Danny's. And Danny _would_ feel guilt over not being able to return Steve's feelings. That's just the way Danny was.

So, Steve was okay with the status quo for the moment. That could change if Danny started actively seeing someone instead of the normal flirting with no follow through, but until that happened, Steve could handle the unrequited aspect of his feelings.

Steve hadn't a clue as to how long he had been sitting out on the lanai, but the grandfather clock that only chimed in the late hours of the night told him with deep clangs that he had brooded long enough. He stood up and stretched before heading inside. After throwing away the beer bottle, he locked up the house and went upstairs.

He didn't bother to set his alarm clock and decided that for once, he was going to push off his morning swim and just sleep in. He used the bathroom and changed before all but dropping onto the bed. He was asleep within minutes.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 2

* * *

><p>Steve groaned as the doorbell buzzed through the house. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and peered at the clock through sleep blurred eyes. Six a.m. It figured that the one morning he decided to sleep in, someone would decide to show up at his normal wake up time anyway. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed and grabbed the t-shirt at the end of the bed, pulling it on as he went down the stairs.<p>

He reached the bottom of the stairs and the door just as the doorbell rang again, "Okay, okay all ready," He turned off the alarm and flipped the lock before pulling open the door. The person on the other side caused a small smile to cross his face before it fell into a frown when he saw what she was carrying, "Catherine?"

Catherine gave him a rueful smile, "Hi sailor."

Steve just stared at her, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, "I…you?"

Catherine managed a laugh at his expression, "Can I come in or are you going to have me stand on the porch for this discussion?"

"Yeah, right…sorry," Steve stepped back and pulled the door open the rest of the way.

Catherine stepped in and, after adjusting the bundle she was carrying, patted him on the chest as she passed, "Go make some coffee, McGarrett. Both you and I are going to need it."

Steve shut the door and did as bid. Fifteen minutes later, he was carrying two mugs into the living room and he handed one of them over to Catherine, who accepted it with her free hand.

Steve sat down on the chair across from her, which caused Catherine to sigh, "Really Steve?" She set her mug on the coffee table and stood up. She stepped around the table and took Steve's mug before setting that down as well. Then she straightened and held out the bundle, "Go on."

Steve eyed her wearily, before reaching out. He took the bundle with extreme care and pulled it slowly into his body. He looked down and felt his heart melt in his chest. Blue eyes blinked sleepily up at him as a small, bow shaped mouth puckered, "I don't understand," he whispered, reaching out and tracing gentle fingers through dark, nearly black, wispy hair and down along a rounded cheek.

Catherine had the grace to look abashed, "He's yours. The only thing I can think of that happened is that I forgot to take my birth control pills, or he was just a lucky strike which with my family history is entirely possible. My sister got pregnant twice while on the pill and using condoms so…" She trailed off with a shrug, "The last time we were together back in January, when we decided to call it quits? I had a physical after getting back on board because I had been getting sick at the oddest times and was told then. I couldn't stay on the ship and while I could have taken a desk job I just...took maternity leave immediately instead because I never knew when I was going to get sick. So, I went home."

Steve couldn't seem to take his eyes off the baby, a boy he was assuming from the light blue blanket, who was now suckling lightly on Steve's finger while staring up at him through half lidded eyes, "Why didn't you say anything before now? That would mean you've known for, what? Five months? Not to mention the time since he's been born."

Catherine shrugged and sat down on the coffee table, reaching behind her for her mug. She cradled it in her hands, tapping her fingers against the ceramic, "I tried. I tried so many times. I swear I picked up that phone at least three times a day, but it was a hard pregnancy and my emotions were all over the place because of it. Every time I tried to dial, I managed to talk myself out of it with some stupid reason. My sister was going to adopt him, you know me and kids, but as soon as I held him the first time I knew I had to tell you…show you. Give you the choice."

Steve looked up at this, "Choice?"

She shrugged, "If you want to keep him…or let my sister adopt him. I'm career military, Steve. I don't want to be a mom. A favorite aunt, sure, but…" she trailed off before biting her lip. She sighed after a few seconds, "My sister is okay with whatever you choose."

Steve looked down at the little boy in his arms. How the hell did he make that kind of choice? Could he even make it? His job didn't have set hours and it was highly dangerous. His house had already been shot up once and broken into another time. He had enemies everywhere in the world, ones that would not hesitate to use an innocent child as leverage. His subconscious tried to rebel against that, using Danny and Grace as an example, but Danny didn't have full custody of Grace though either. It was like comparing a rocket launcher to a grenade thrower. Could he consciously raise a child in that kind of environment?

He couldn't. He remembered how hard his father had pushed him and Mary out of his own life to protect them, and he had just been a cop. Not part of a task force that went after the worst scum bags on the island while on call at all times. He opened his mouth to tell Catherine just that, but what came out instead was, "I want to keep him."

If Catherine was shocked, she didn't show it. Instead she simply nodded and stood up, "I have the papers in the car as well as a small amount of essentials. You'll need to go shopping of course, set up a room for him. Also…he doesn't really have a name. I wanted to leave that up to whoever took him."

Steve, surprisingly, didn't even have to think on that one, "Jonathan Jeffrey McGarrett." He murmured.

Catherine laughed softly, for reasons Steve couldn't fathom, but when he opened his mouth to ask she just waved her hand, "Jonathan is for your dad but who's the Jeffrey after? I like to think I know you fairly well Steve, so I know the name means something to you."

Steve shrugged, "Danny's dad. I met him once and he was…something else. Treated me like another son. He was a firefighter up in Hoboken."

Catherine smiled but didn't comment. Instead, she reached out and gently poked his nose, "I'll get the paperwork from the car. His birth certificate will need his name changed then. The reason I laughed when you named him is because I put JJ down for his name. A baby cannot legally leave the hospital without a name and that was the first thing to pop into my head," she added at his confused look, most likely due to her earlier statement of the infant not having a name, "I've got the documents for the name change petition, which I'm going to pay for. I've also got the custody papers."

"JJ…I like that," It was then that the rest of Catherine's words filtered through, "Did you know I was going to take him?"

"No, how could I? But I was hoping."

* * *

><p>Steve could not take his eyes off of his son. <em>His<em> son. The thought was mind-boggling. He was a _father_. It looked like Danny would no longer be the only one playing the single father card. Steve then let out a groan. Danny. He was going to have to tell Danny.

Well, to be honest he was going to need Danny's help. There was no way around that. He knew next to nothing about babies and Catherine hadn't been able to supply much information either beyond the basics of changing a diaper, feeding him, and burping him. And even though JJ was just about six weeks old, Catherine had still been sloppy and uncoordinated in her efforts and the burping had left both her and their son red in the face. It had been fairly obvious after spending three hours together why Catherine was certain she was not cut out for motherhood. She had had no patience in dealing with the baby at all. Steve wouldn't have been surprised if most of the caretaking had fallen to Catherine's sister.

Steve reached out to the side and grabbed the cordless phone off the charger, hitting Danny's speed dial without even looking.

_"lo?"_

Steve huffed out a quiet laugh, "Did I wake you?"

_"As a matter of fact, yes. The neighbors had a wild party last night and I only managed to get to bed at five so this had better be damned important."_

"Wild partying until five? I thought you were getting a little old for that."

Steve grinned when he heard a muffled snarl. He loved getting that response out of the acerbic man, _"Not me you goof. I was the annoying old guy with the broom pounding at the ceiling every time they dropped what I swear was a sixteen pound bowling ball on the floor. Now what is so important that you called to wake me up after four peaceful hours of sleep? And if you say you just called to chat, I swear I'll hang up so fast that a hurricane will look like a calm breeze."_

"Danny, compared to you a hurricane _is _calm."

_"Ha ha, that's funny. Seriously, Stephen, my thumb is hovering over the hang up button."_

Steve sucked in a breath, "I need your help."

_"Well, it can't be that bad if you can spend five minutes teasing me about partying. Can't it wait?"_

"Ah, well, no, not really. I have an issue and need your expertise and like I said, it can't really wait."

There was a long pause, _"Are you not going to tell me?"_

"Not over the phone, no," Steve heard a pounding noise start up in the background and grinned. Another favored response, "Stop hitting your head on the counter Danno. You're going to leave a dent."

_"Man, you are just filled with the jokes today, aren't you? Give me thirty minutes."_

Steve heard the click of Danny hanging up before hitting the power button on his end. He was still grinning when he looked down at his son, "That was Uncle Danny. He seems grouchy, I know, but he's actually really funny."

JJ stared up at him a moment before his face screwed up in a grimace and his cheeks and forehead turned a ruddy red. Steve's grin dropped along with his jaw in panic. Catherine was gone and he had seen that look before, "Again?"

TBC…..


	3. Chapter 3

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 3

Danny pulled to a stop next to Steve's truck and shut off the Camaro. He dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel before pinching the bridge of his nose. He was tired, dammit. He wished he could find a way to explain to Steve that he was not Steve's personal 'gofer,' even if he did enjoy spending time with the man.

Danny let out a snort before getting out of the car. Steve needed his expertise. _Right_. On what, Danny had no idea. Steve was a full blown ninja-SEAL that could fix cars and do home repair, two areas that Danny had only the vaguest of knowledge, as well as who knew what else. Danny could wall paper and carpet like a pro, but actually tearing into a wall and replacing studs? Not happening.

So, unless Steve got it into his head to sand down the hardwood floors and re-varnish them, Danny couldn't think of a thing he'd really be needed for on a Saturday. Especially since everything he could think of could, in fact, wait until he had gotten a proper amount of sleep.

Danny was up on the porch and pulling out his key when he heard the unmistakable sound of a baby cry. Knowing that there was no way it was coming from Steve's house, Danny leaned back and glanced at the two neighbors. One belonged to a young couple that, last Danny knew, wasn't planning on adding to their family any time soon. The other was a church that didn't normally have services on Saturday mornings. On the other hand, Danny supposed there could be some function going on where a baby would be present and crying loud enough to make his inner dad cringe in empathy.

Shaking his head, he unlocked the front door and pushed it open, only to stagger back in shock. The wailing was indeed coming from inside Steve's house. That thought made Danny freeze and begin to wonder if he was dreaming all of this. There was no way there would be a _baby_ in Steve's house.

Frowning, Danny walked in and shut the door before his eyes fell on the source of the wailing. Steve was holding a baby, an _infant_ from the looks of it, and was pacing the floor like a man possessed. Steve noticed him on the return trip from the kitchen and the look of pure relief that flooded his face was what clinched that Danny wasn't dreaming. If he was, Steve would definitely not look as frazzled as he did nor be as relieved as he was at the sight of Danny.

Danny cocked his head and held out his arms, motioning towards the baby. He saw Steve open his mouth and Danny shook his head. There was no point trying to talk with that noise going on. Instead, he walked up to Steve and carefully manhandled the red faced infant out of tense arms. Considering what he had seen, Danny carefully pulled the blanket off and handed that to Steve before he turned the baby over to rest on his forearm, head nestled in the crook of his elbow and resting against his body. The crying dropped to whimpering in less than a minute.

Steve's awed and confused look said it all, "Football carry. Rachel used it with Grace to feed her and I found that if she was uncomfortable, it was the best position to calm her down in. Puts pressure on the belly," Danny answered to the unspoken question, motioning to the belly on his forearm and the legs dangling on each side of his hand.

"He's been crying since I got off the phone with you," Steve said, his voice tinged with relief, "I was minutes from calling all of the pediatricians in the phone book."

Danny shrugged, "Babies cry and knowing you? You did everything you could think of to check what could be wrong."

Steve nodded, "Diaper, feeding, burping, temperature…" He trailed off and looked a bit sheepish, a look Danny never thought he would see on Steve's face, "I suppose you're wondering…"

"Oh, only a little," Danny said, not bothering to hold back the sarcasm.

"Well, he's mine."

Danny nodded, "Makes sense. I doubt Mary would have just shown up with a baby to drop on you before taking off. She has more sense than that given how you are with kids."

"Hey!" Steve said, affronted, "I'm getting better."

Danny hummed a little in agreement, "I suppose so. I'm assuming Catherine is his mother."

Steve sighed and glanced at the kitchen, "Yeah. You want coffee? I could really use some."

"Well, I want answers, but coffee's good too," Danny shifted the baby slightly and followed Steve into the kitchen, "The squirt have a name?"

"JJ," Steve said, head buried in the cabinet he kept the coffee in.

"Which I'm guessing is a nickname," When Steve hesitated, Danny narrowed his eyes slightly, "Let's see, one of the J's probably stands for John or some variation after your father. The other J," he trailed off before his eyebrows shot upwards in shock, "…really? Really Stephen? Because if you did, I am two seconds away from calling him up and telling him the good news."

Steve practically growled, "Jonathan Jeffrey."

Danny laughed and began patting his pockets down, only to realize he had left his phone at home, "Well, there went that plan. Trust me, he'll be thrilled. None of his daughters named their sons after him and I have five nephews. If I could have found a way to turn Jeffrey into a girl's name, Grace would have a different middle name."

"What is Gracie's middle name anyway?"

Danny watched Steve place the filter in the pot and add the ground beans, "Amelia after Rachel's grandmother. Back to the subject at hand, please. Why do you have him?"

Steve sighed and leaned against the counter, rubbing his hands along his face, "Catherine snow-balled me."

"Meaning?" Danny drawled out.

"Meaning that she came here and told me she wanted me to meet him, that she wasn't keeping him, and that I had to make the choice between myself and her sister. Somehow, it came out being me even though I'm not sure where the faulty wire was between my brain and mouth."

Danny smiled, "In your son's hands no doubt. I bet you took one look at him and was gone," Danny lifted up his arm slightly, "Is he out? I can't see his face."

Steve looked down at JJ and nodded, "Like a light. His carrier is on the dining room table if you want to put him down."

"You don't have a crib?"

"I don't have anything!"

Danny was momentarily stunned. Not over the fact that Steve didn't have anything for the baby other than what Catherine most likely brought with her, but more that Stephen James McGarrett could actually whine, "Okay, so…we have coffee, eat breakfast, feed JJ when he wakes up and then go shopping. No big deal."

"Good. Lists. I like lists. I can _do _lists. Coffee is just about done so breakfast. Pancakes?"

Danny shrugged. He wasn't particularly hungry, his significant lack of sleep playing on his body like a nap would which meant sinus' drainage something major. This made food wholly unappealing, but he wasn't going to say no. Steve's pancakes were a work of art, "How old is he?"

Steve poured out a cup of coffee before turning to Danny, "Six weeks. He was born on May 23rd and Catherine said he was a couple of weeks early."

Danny raised an eyebrow and accepted the mug he was being given, "Six weeks and she only told you today? Really? Are you sure he's even yours?"

"I don't think Catherine is the type of person to lie about that, especially since her sister was planning to adopt him," Steve said, glaring at Danny, "Would it make you feel better if I went and got a paternity test done? Besides, I already signed his birth certificate. He is legally mine."

Danny would have held up his hands in a surrendering gesture, if he wasn't still cradling JJ on one arm and had the coffee in the other hand, "Sorry, sorry. It was just a simple question."

Steve nodded, "As for her telling me, well, she wanted to tell me in person and JJ was just cleared to fly a few days ago."

"Ahh, yeah. That makes sense if he was early."

* * *

><p>"I don't think we can fit anything else in the back of this truck," Danny watched on, amused, as Steve fought with bungee cords and the truck cover, "I don't see why you just didn't take off the cover before we left the house."<p>

Steve grunted and bent over to place the bungee hook under the bumper. Danny shifted the carrier holding JJ as he held back a chuckle, "Seriously, Steve, who pissed in your cheerios? You've been getting crankier with every passing second."

"It's nothing."

"C'mon Steve, I know you better than that. You were having a blast at Toys 'R' Us. This started after we got to the mall."

Steve sighed and took JJ's carrier from Danny. He looked down at the baby and couldn't help but shake his head. Still asleep, even after the hustle and bustle of the mall. He opened the truck door and placed the carrier on the car seat adapter before turning to Danny, "It's nothing. I'm just being paranoid," He turned to check that the carrier was secure before putting the seat back and walking around to the driver's side.

Danny climbed in and shut the truck door, "Well, if you would just tell me already, I could actually tell you if you were being paranoid or not. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth with you."

"Since we left Baby Gap, I've had the feeling that someone's been following us."

Danny hummed as he buckled up, "That was the first store we were in. It's the mall on a Saturday. Maybe you _are_ just being paranoid."

"Well, the feeling hasn't actually dissipated," Steve said. He started the truck and pulled out.

Danny watched the scenery go by as they pulled out of the lot. He knew not to dismiss Steve's feelings, they had gotten them out of would be tight spots before, but it was the mall. People went in and out of the same stores all the time, seemingly like they were following other people. The mall was one of the places where people generally ignored the feeling of being followed.

"All right, go for a drive instead of straight home. I'll keep an eye out and see if we have a tail, if it will make you feel any better," Danny said, turning in his seat to do just that. He frowned, however, when his eyes fell on the cover that was obscuring most of the vehicles behind them, "Okay, so I use the side mirror. Change the angle would you? All I can see is half the truck and the car behind us."

Steve adjusted the mirror and then did the same to his own. Neither of the men said anything as Steve took a drive around downtown Honolulu. There were a few cars that had left the mall at the same time as them and all had turned off at some point. They weren't being followed.

"I think we're good," Danny said, turning his attention back to Steve, "No suspicious activity."

"Yeah and the feeling is gone," Steve moved over a few lanes and started towards the house.

"Uh, actually…" Danny glanced at the clock with a wince, "We need to head to Rachel's first."

"Pick up Grace?"

"In twenty minutes, yeah," Danny pulled out his phone, grateful they had swung past his apartment before they had started their shopping. He sent a quick text to Rachel, letting her know they were on their way.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 4

When Steve pulled up to the house, Danny was out of the truck and up the stairs in a flash. Steve watched from the driver's side of the truck, having gotten out to let Grace in, as Danny knelt to catch Grace up in a hug. Danny leaned in to whisper something in Grace's ear and Steve laughed as Grace's head shot up with a squeal and darted for the truck.

"Uncle Steve! Danno said you have a baby!" She yelled, and Steve could practically hear the screeching noise as she slid to an instant stop in front of him.

He laughed again and hoisted her up into his arms, allowing her to climb into the backseat, "Yup. That's JJ, which is short for Jonathan Jeffrey."

Grace lightly touched JJ's hand while Steve said this before glancing at him, "Like grampa?"

"Yes. In fact, I named him after your grampa as well as my dad."

"Cool," Grace breathed, before turning around and hopping out of the truck. By this time, Danny was on his way back to the truck, Rachel at his side. Grace ran to them and slammed into Danny, "Uncle Steve said JJ is named after grampa!"

"I know that already, monkey. I plan on telling grampa as soon as we get back to Steve's. You want to help set up JJ's room?"

"Can I?" Grace looked back and forth between her parents and Steve, "Can I really?"

"Yeah, you really can," Danny said with a laugh before turning to Rachel, "Are you sure the extra night is okay?"

Rachel smiled, "Its fine, Daniel, really. Just drop her off on your way to work Wednesday," She paused and looked at Steve before cocking her head slightly, "What do you plan on doing with JJ while you work?"

Steve's smile faded instantly. He hadn't thought of that at all. In fact, he hadn't been thinking about anything beyond getting through this first day and settling JJ into his new home, "I don't know yet. I guess I'll talk to Chin, see if he knows anyone he trusts that babysits or something."

Rachel hummed softly, rubbing her chin lightly with one finger, "I'll tell you what. With Grace off for the summer, I'm working from home. I'm willing to watch JJ until school starts up again. That will give you time to find a trustworthy sitter."

Steve's eyes widened and he looked back and forth between Danny and Rachel, stunned. Danny, who looked just as taken aback, was moving away from his ex with his fingers crossed, "Who are you and what have you done with my daughter's mother?"

"Very funny Daniel. I'm being serious here. I may not have had the chance to get to know Steve very well, but I certainly know I would not be comfortable dropping off Grace with someone I barely know five days a week and when there are emergencies," She narrowed her eyes at Danny, "I'm just giving a viable option here."

Danny's stunned countenance turned thoughtful, "Actually, Steve, that's a really good idea. And Rachel's is barely out of the way of the route to HQ from your place," He glanced at his ex, "Would Stan be okay with that?"

Rachel's smile turned shark like and caused both men to flinch back a few inches, "JJ will give him something to practice on."

"I'm sorry," Danny said, his eyebrows climbing, "Are you implying…?"

"Of course not," Rachel interrupted, "Not yet, at any rate."

A wail piercing the air just then and caused three adults and one child's head to turn towards the truck, "I think you'd better check on him," Rachel said with a smile.

"Right," Steve climbed into the back of the truck and looked down at JJ before sighing and unbuckling the carrier. He lifted the infant out and once JJ was secure in his arms, patted his diaper. He may have had his son for less than a day, but he had already found that a simple feel at JJ's bottom would tell him if the crying was because of a wet diaper. A quick whiff at the bottom after the pat down told him it wasn't a diaper change his son was in need of, "He's probably hungry."

"His formula will need to be warmed up. You're free to use the microwave here if you would like. It will be easier than trying to drive home with a wailing infant, especially if you wish to save yourself the headache," Rachel said, walking up to the truck and peering inside. She held out her arms, "May I?"

Steve nodded and passed JJ to Rachel before grabbing the leather satchel Catherine had been using as a baby bag. Steve actually liked its functionality as well as the fact that he wasn't embarrassed to be carrying it. Once she had both baby and bag in her arms, she turned and walked up and into the house, Grace running after her.

Steve looked at Danny, who gazed back at him with a flummoxed expression, "Was that my ex or is it someone impersonating her? Because while I agree that that is a good idea, the whole conversation was just bizarre."

Steve climbed out of the truck and shut the door, "It was kind of weird, but I am pretty sure that's Rachel."

Danny started towards the house and didn't bother to reply.

* * *

><p>When they got home from Rachel's, the first thing on Steve's new list was cleaning out Mary's old bedroom. Steve had picked that room for JJ's nursery as it was right next door to the master. Cleaning it and moving the furniture out to the garage for the time being took over an hour. They had had to put Grace on baby duty, meaning that if he started crying at any point, she was to run and get one of them.<p>

Once that was completed, and the truck had been emptied of the newly bought baby furnishings and accessories, Danny found himself at a loss. Steve wanted to be the one to put the room together, something Danny certainly couldn't begrudge him, and Grace was acting as his helper. Steve was also still in his, 'oh my God, I'm a father,' mode, which meant that JJ was nestled down in his carrier two feet from Steve.

Danny decided to clean and get the house looking halfway decent before the Fourth of July barbecue they were having Monday. That was pretty much the only reason he had Grace this weekend. Two weeks in a row and two weekends without her. Thankfully, Rachel did have a heart, small as it could be at times in regards to him, and was allowing him some time during the next two weeks to take the place of bringing her to school.

Periodically, Danny would poke his head into the bedroom and walk away laughing as Steve argued with the _seven_ year old over different pieces from the crib and how to organize them. Twice, Steve and Grace came down to him. Once to change and feed JJ while the second time was to get food for themselves. Danny only gave them milk and half a peanut butter sandwich each as he had every intention of starting dinner. He manfully ignored the twin puppy dog eyes he was receiving from the two and shooed them back upstairs.

When dinner was close to being done, he went up to get Steve and Grace. Steve was in the same spot he had been for the past two hours, poking through the pieces while Grace read from the instructions, "Two hours and you haven't even got the frame put together yet."

"Shut up Danny."

"Be quiet daddy."

Danny stared at them, bemused at the in sync replies, "I'm limiting your time alone together, starting now, before you two start ganging up on me. That was way too eerie. Dinner, before you both start getting crabby. Let's go."

Steve saluted and climbed to his feet, grabbing JJ's carrier. Grace followed suit, including the salute, and marched past Danny. Danny cocked his head as he looked at JJ, "You know, it might be easier and more comfortable for him if you put up the pack and play instead of leaving him in the carrier. Give him a little room to stretch."

Steve looked down at JJ, "You think?"

"Occasionally. Food, before it gets cold. Then I'll put together the pack and play while you try to finish the crib. Ten to one says JJ will end up in your room for the next few weeks anyway. Might as well have it ready."

TBC…


	5. Chapter 5

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 5

Danny groaned and twisted away as Grace kicked him in the ribs. He didn't normally mind staying at Steve's house, but they were down beds now and Danny refused to sleep on the couch. This would be one of those times that he wished he could tell Steve how he felt about him and share _his_ bed, rather than this double bed with his pre-teen daughter who still kicked in her sleep. Sometimes, he felt sorry for whoever would end up married to his daughter if she didn't outgrow this, but that led to homicidal thoughts of someone ever touching his little girl and he no longer felt bad. It was a wretched circle.

Grace kicked again, this time her heal landing on his kidney, and Danny just gave up the ghost. He would rather be dead tired than a walking bruise. He climbed out of bed and softly made his way through the room, the neon glow of the clock lighting his way. He glanced at it as he slid through the door and shook his head at the two a.m. blinking back at him. Two a.m. on a Sunday. What was the world coming to?

He used the restroom at the end of the hall and then detoured down to JJ's room. Steve had finished the crib at ten and had, going against what Danny had said earlier, put the infant to bed in the nursery.

When he glanced in, however, he saw that the crib was empty. Shaking his head with a rueful laugh, he turned back up the hall and stuck his head into Steve's room. Sure enough, the pack and play was up near the head of the bed and Steve was resting on his elbow, watching the baby sleep.

Danny stepped into the room and closed the door but leaving an inch gap, just enough to let in the light from the hallway, "What are you doing up?"

Steve glanced over at him before turning back to the pack and play, "Couldn't fall back to sleep after I fed him. I put him in his crib, came back to bed and kept thinking that I couldn't hear him or that I wouldn't hear him if he cried again if I fell asleep. I went and got him about twenty minutes ago," Steve looked back at Danny, "Why are you awake?"

"Grace was dreaming of playing soccer again and I wound up being the ball. I was going to go down and watch some TV or something, try to pass out on that God awful couch of yours." Danny walked over to the bed and sat down by Steve's feet, "Welcome to parenthood by the way. My dad told me just after Grace was born that every new parent goes through those fears."

"So it'll go away?"

Danny laughed softly, "No. I can honestly say that it never goes away. Exhaustion eventually wins out in the end and then you learn to internalize it. As he grows, the worry is going to change from 'oh god, is he still breathing?' to 'oh god, he's going to get hit by a car!' and further still to 'oh god, he's going to crash the car!' but it'll always be there."

"That is so not helpful at all."

Danny squeezed Steve's ankle, "It just gets easier to handle," He squeezed again and stood up, "All right, I really need to get some sleep."

"Danny," Steve said with a sigh, when Danny was a foot from the door, "get in here."

Danny blinked at the door before turning to Steve, "What?"

"That couch sucks to sleep on. Just climb in and shut up."

Danny deliberated for a minute, though why he had no idea. This was what he wanted after all. It may not be under the same circumstances, he doubted Steve was going to ravish him in his sleep after all, but still…sharing, "Okay."

He walked to the other side of the bed and pulled the sheet back before sliding in. The bed was a king and there was sufficient enough room between them that Danny didn't bother sleeping right on the edge of the mattress. He didn't want to anyway. He always enjoyed the heat that seemed to emanate from Steve.

"So," He said after a few minutes of tense silence, during which Steve was like a rock next to him, "This is cozy."

Steve relaxed with a soft laugh and dropped his head onto the pillow. He rolled over and thumped Danny on the shoulder, "Go to sleep."

"Sir, yes, sir."

* * *

><p>JJ had only woken up once more after Danny had joined him and Steve was surprised that Danny had slept through it, to be honest. But then again, the man really hadn't gotten much sleep the morning before, so maybe it shouldn't have been all that surprising. Once the five o'clock feeding was taken care of and JJ was asleep <em>again <em>which seemed to be all the baby was capable of doing other than soiling his diaper and eating, Steve slipped back into bed, facing Danny. He rested his head on his fist and looked his fill.

Asleep, with his face smoothed out and his hair askew in twenty different directions, Danny looked like a teenager. Seeing this, Steve wondered if he had ever seen his partner sleeping a true deep sleep. Sure there were stake out naps, but Danny never seemed to be able to drop past a dose at those times.

It was weird, seeing Danny so still. He had thought, the few times he allowed himself to, that Danny would move in his sleep the way he moved when awake, which was constantly. This stillness was kind of enduring in a weird sort of way. Then again, Danny had had very little sleep the last two nights. This lack of movement could be just an anomaly.

"Quit staring at me."

Steve started and pulled his eyes away from the line of Danny's shoulder. He looked up and met a pair of bleary, blue eyes blinking back at him, "How long have you been awake?"

"Since you fought your way out of bed to feed the boychick," Danny yawned and turned over onto his side, eyes sliding half closed.

"Boychick? You're letting your roots show," Steve chuckled at the Jewish term. He only knew it because that had been what one of his grandmothers friends called him when he was little.

Danny thumped Steve's hand weakly and then left his hand resting where it had landed, too tired to exert the energy to move it. Steve's hand twitched under Danny's and he managed to restrain from turning it over and grasping Danny's. He met the sleepy gaze and felt his stomach clench. The need to kiss Danny was nearly overwhelming. He decided to comprise with himself and hope that was enough to kill the urge. He leaned over and pressed his lips to Danny's forehead, "Go back to sleep Danny."

Steve heard Danny sigh and let his eyes slide shut. He didn't think he'd sleep but his eyes itched from tiredness. The next time he opened his eyes, he found Danny leaning over him with a funny little smile on his face. He stretched his way through a yawn. Apparently he _had_ slept, "Time izzit?"

"A little after ten. Seems JJ slept for a solid five hour stretch. That is a huge accomplishment," He paused, "Was I dreaming earlier or did you kiss me?"

Steve cracked an eye open at the hesitancy in Danny's voice. It was something that was rarely heard, "You weren't dreaming."

"Oh," Danny frowned down at Steve before punching him in the shoulder hard, "If you're gunna do something, McGarrett, do it right. You don't wait until the other person is mostly asleep before kissing them, especially a first kiss. If one wants to reciprocate, it is very hard to do so when three quarters of the way into la-la land."

"Danny…"

"Your timing sucks. Which is just another thing we need to add…"

Steve tried again, "Danny…"

"To the list of things we need to work on…"

"Danny!"

"What?"

Steve let out a soft laugh, "I only kissed you on the forehead."

Danny stared at Steve a long moment before a look of horror crossed his face, "Oh, oh crap."

"So you dream of me kissing you?"

"I dream about mutual kissing…" Danny clenched his teeth, the look on his face suggesting he couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth, "Look, can we just forget that I said anything? Apparently I don't have a filter after I just wake up."

Steve stared up at Danny, his eyes wide and his heart thumping a million beats a minute at the possibility that Danny might return his feelings, "Danny? You?"

"This is not forgetting about it," when Steve didn't say anything, still in a bit of shock, Danny exploded, "Yes! Okay? Yes, I want to kiss you and do other things that are unmentionable while children are present in the same room. Are you happy?"

Steve smiled slowly but didn't answer. Instead, he reached up and ran a finger along Danny's lips and watched as the blond mans breath stuttered slightly. Danny's jaw pulsed as he clenched his teeth before he growled, grabbed Steve's hand, bent over and pressed their mouths together.

It wasn't a sweet press of lips that Steve had experienced with other people for a first kiss, but it wasn't a rough attack of lips either. He felt the stubble of Danny's jaw press against his and the feel and sound of the slight scratching wrenched a groan from his throat.

Danny pulled back and stared at him, his eyes holding a slightly wild tinge to them. He was about to lean back in when a high pitched whimper had both heads snapping to the pack and play. JJ was shifting around in the bassinette of the pack and play, a sure sign that he was waking up.

"That kid has fantastic timing."

Steve laughed and pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Danny's mouth before turning and climbing out of bed.

TBC…


	6. Chapter 6

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 6

Sunday passed in a slow haze of laziness. Steve and Grace finished the nursery while Danny started prepping some of the salads for their barbecue the next day, deciding to stay out of the way.

Once both were completed, Grace managed to talk Danny into taking her to an early movie. Danny agreed, more for the fact that he had a hard time denying Grace anything than him actually wanting to see any movie that was currently out.

Danny and Grace left, Danny kissing Steve as he walked out the door. Since their first kiss that morning, it was like they couldn't stop. Every time they had passed each other, or were in the same room, their mouths met. It was like they couldn't believe it was even happening and had to keep reaffirming it. Because of it, Grace had spent much of that time rolling her eyes or huffing in disgust, like any kid that sees their parent kiss another adult.

Danny had pulled her off to the side to talk to her about it, but didn't get far before she had asked what had taken them so long. Danny still wasn't sure what to make of that and wondered if Rachel had something to do with his daughter taking this new shift in his and Steve's relationship so well.

Steve stood at the door, watching them pull out of the driveway before shutting it with a sigh. He turned and looked around the house, suddenly at a loss. JJ was dozing in his swing and the house was actually spotless thanks to Danny.

He knew what he wanted to do, what he _needed_ to do. His muscles were itching with the need to swim. He hadn't been in the ocean since Friday morning and he was feeling it. While he still managed to get his exercise in by way of some quick cardio, the need to be in the ocean was crawling all over his skin like an itch that kept moving every time he tried to scratch it. He just couldn't leave JJ in the house by himself.

Another glance out the back window had an idea popping into his head, but he honestly didn't know if it was possible. He grabbed his laptop and logged onto the internet, quickly typing into the search engine what he wanted to know. It was about what he figured. Some people said yes, some said no, leaving the choice up to the parents.

Well, he guessed it was a good thing he picked up a package of swim diapers on a whim while he and Danny were shopping. Mostly because he knew he would get an eye roll out of it from Danny. He ran upstairs and changed into his shorts before detouring to the bathroom were he grabbed his beach towel and JJ's bath towel from the linen closet. He then went into the nursery and grabbed a pair of the swim diapers from the dresser.

Back downstairs, he lifted JJ out of his swing and laid him out on the couch. He pulled off JJ's clothes and put on his swim diaper before he slathered JJ with baby sun block and placed a baby sized fishing hat on his head. Once his son was ready, he grabbed him up along with the towels and headed out back. Instead of heading straight down to the beach, however, he had a flash of insight and detoured off to the garage.

Steve had learned early on during bath time that JJ was incredibly slippery while wet. So, the garage. Somewhere at the back, there was still a pile of swim toys and floats that had belonged to him and Mary. He was sure he had seen an infant float vest buried in the mess when he was digging out toys a few weeks ago for Grace.

Sure enough, the vest was still there and looked like it was just small enough to slip onto his son's torso comfortably. That he did down on the beach, his son laying on a beach towel and kicking at the sky. Once he was sure the vest was secure, he slid JJ back up into his arms.

"This, JJ, is the ocean. In a couple of months, we'll start taking you to city pool and get you swimming lessons. Your grandma did the same for me and Aunt Mary. We both started swimming at four months old. For now, though, we'll just get you used to the water, yeah?"

JJ's eyes were wide and he was cooing as he looked towards the ocean. With a smile, Steve waded out into the water, walking out until the water was up to his belly button. When he was sure he had a secure grip on the infant, who was facing forward, he crouched down into the water.

Steve laughed when JJ's feet first hit the water and his son squealed and pulled his legs up. Steve slid his arm under JJ's butt, the other secure across his chest to hold him steady, and lowered him again. This time, JJ kicked at the water and when Steve had him in as far as the vest would go, JJ began to splash at the water with his fists like he did during his baths.

Steve didn't dare put him into the water any further. The waves weren't high, but every few minutes there was a swell higher than the rest. It just wasn't a chance he wanted to take, especially as a few of the websites had warned about babies' immune systems and how fragile they were.

Steve leaned back and floated on his back, JJ lying on his chest but out of the water. Steve gave an experimental kick and shot back towards the beach slowly and laughed again when his son let out a squeal at the movement.

They were in the ocean for a good half an hour before JJ started to get fussy. Steve never had him in the water long enough for JJ to start shivering, but he supposed staring up at the sky for half an hour would get pretty boring after awhile. He went back up to the house and wrapped JJ up in his towel before wrapping his own around his waist.

He stepped into the house and stopped dead in his tracks. Danny was standing there, his arms crossed and a fierce frown on his face, "He was barely in the water, I swear. And his face was nowhere near it."

"That doesn't matter Steve. Babies' body temperatures drop quickly. Why do you think I kept saying his bath water had to be room temperature?"

"I know Danny, I'm not stupid. I checked online and that was one of the things to say to watch for. Take the baby out of the water as soon as he or she starts shivering. I didn't have him in the water long enough for him to even come close to shivering. He was lying on my chest the whole time and I had a good grip on him."

"_Online_? You checked _online_? Don't you know that half the things you find online are _wrong_? Urban legends, wives tales, and stuff heard through the years, repeated and transformed...badly I might add!"

"I checked, okay, and different parenting sites as well," Steve answered, feeling his temper rising. "I didn't do it on a whim."

"Well, maybe you should have thought harder. He's not a toy, he's a tiny human being. He's _fragile_."

"C'mon, my parents took Mary and I into the water around that age. We loved it."

"It's doesn't mean that because you're Aquaman and are able to live underwater that your kid can do it too. At least not now, I'm sure that seeing how lucky I am, he'll end up just like you. I'm not sure the world can handle two McGarrett's. And I'm not sure I can either right now. Seriously, what were you thinking? You couldn't have just asked for my opinion? Unlike you, I've been a father for more than five minutes!" Danny knew he went too far when he saw Steve's face harden.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I'm not Father of the Year after twenty four hours with my son! Not everyone one can be as perfect as Danny Williams, who gets to play dad every other weekend."

Danny's eyes narrowed before going into the kitchen, "Fuck you, McGarrett!"

Steve put JJ back in his pack and play before running after Danny, "Wait!" he yelled, catching partner's arm, "I'm sorry Danny. I didn't mean it. I know you're a great father. I wish mine was half as good as you are with Grace. I just got angry."

"Okay, I said stuff, you said stuff, I wasn't really nice either to be fair. But seriously, you need any advice, just ask me."

"You weren't there," Steve was getting frustrated again. He walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, wrenching the cap of it and flinging it towards the garbage can with more force than was strictly necessary.

"Then call me next time."

"So what, I'll call you every time I want to do something or because my son is crying and just not bother to try and solve it by myself?" Steve fumed, "C'mon, I'm not going to phone you every time I've got a question. I need to learn things for myself, even if you're here. You had to learn by yourself. I'm not going to rely on you all the time about how to raise my son. That's not who I am."

"Look," Danny said in what Steve assumed was a reasoning tone, "I know everything changed for you all of a sudden, but you can't just do stuff like that because you are bored. You need to be responsible. He could suffer from hypothermia easily."

"Danny, are you aware that we are in _Hawai'i_ and that it's the middle of _summer_? The water is about 86 degrees right now. It's almost the same temperature as his body's. I know you hate ocean and sand, but he's my son and since we are living on an island, I want him to get used to it as soon as possible. So you're just going to have to get used to it as well," the finality in Steve's voice made it clear that he was done with this subject, even if Danny wasn't.

Danny sighed, "Just…please, please the next time you want to take him out there, make sure I'm with."

Steve nodded in acquiescence, "Okay," He turned around and dug back into the fridge for one of JJ's bottles, "I thought you were going to a movie?"

"The one Grace wanted to see was already half an hour into it. We just went and got ice cream instead. I brought back a pint for you. It's in the freezer," Danny said with a wave of his hand.

"Cool."

TBC…


	7. Chapter 7

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 7

Later that evening, they were back out on the beach. Grace had pouted all the way up through dinner after hearing that JJ had got to go out into the ocean and that she had missed it. Danny had put his foot down at the infant going back into the ocean for a second time that day, so he elected to stay on the beach with JJ while Steve took Grace out to swim and work on her boogie board.

Danny sat down on the blanket and laid JJ on his back in front of him. He idly dangled a set of rattle keys for JJ to bat at while he watched Steve help his daughter stand on the board.

The boogie board had been a compromise between him, Rachel, and Grace. Danny had talked with Steve, who then dragged him to various board shops. All had agreed that a boogie board was a good way to start out if they could find a teacher willing to help her balance on the board. Steve had, not too surprisingly, volunteered for the job with Kono helping when she could.

JJ made a gargling type noise and Danny looked down at the baby before laughing and reaching for the camera he had brought out with him. JJ had managed, without Danny noticing, to pull the top of the blanket down along the sides of his head and was attempting to grab the sand now within reach.

Danny snapped a few pictures, one of which was just in time to catch JJ burying his hand in the sand. Danny laughed again at this and then had to fumble for the camera. JJ was gracing him with a large gummy grin and it was, to Danny's knowledge, the first smile JJ had let out since Catherine had dropped him off with Steve.

"Okay, boychick, here's the deal. When daddy comes back up, you gotta give him a huge smile too, okay? Cause let me tell ya, he's gunna go all pouty on me when he finds out that I got your first smile and that's just not something I wanna deal with. Sound like a plan?"

JJ cooed at him and started grabbing at the sand again. Danny sighed and reached behind him for the small pillow he had brought out. They might as well get some tummy time out of this.

Steve stirred awake Monday morning, odd feelings twisting his stomach. Part of it had to do with the way Danny was wrapped around him like an octopus he was sure, but the other part felt more anxious. Like something was going to happen. It was a feeling he had had previously, before good and bad events had taken place in his life. All it meant, really, was that he would spend the day paying a little more attention to things than normal.

He glanced at the pack and play and then, after determining that his son was still sleeping soundly, turned to kiss Danny awake. It didn't take long before the blond was shifting in his arms, "Why? Why do you insist on waking me up, McGarrett, when we don't have to work? These are times of sleeping in."

Steve couldn't help but let a small chuckle out at Danny's half asleep ranting. Most of the words had been slurred and the rest sighed out like he couldn't make the effort to say them, "Grace will be up soon."

Danny grunted in response and slid off of Steve, before burying his head under a pillow, "She's a big girl. She can make cereal and watch cartoons."

"Ah, she would, but someone here, not that I'm naming names or anything, promised her pancakes."

"Promised her _your_ pancakes," Danny muttered, gripping the pillow over his head as if that would make Steve leave him alone, "I don't want to get up."

Steve poked him in the shoulder, "Come on, it's not like we fell into bed an hour ago."

Danny lifted the edge of the pillow closest to Steve, just enough to glare out with one eye, "Your son howls like a hungry wolf. I was up with you and unlike you, who most likely went through your entire SEAL career on an hour of sleep, I actually enjoy getting more than three hours of uninterrupted sleep."

Despite the grumbling, Danny crawled out of bed a few minutes later. The rest morning had passed by smoothly enough. Danny had made breakfast for him and Steve, something small to keep them from raiding the fridge before Grace finally woke up. JJ had woken before Grace and Danny helped Steve through the morning ablutions of an infant.

Following that was the pancakes with Grace who then commandeered Steve and forced him to watch movies with her in between taking care of JJ. During that, Danny called Kono to remind her to pick up the fireworks that her uncle was providing them for after the city fireworks.

Once that had been settled, Danny had retreated to the lanai with a book he had every intention of finishing before he had to get up to help with the barbeque prep work. Or be a back-seat cook if you listened to Steve's continuous griping.

An hour passed before he heard the kitchen door being slid open, "Daddy?"

Danny looked up from his book, "Monkey?"

Grace flopped down on the end of the chair, "I have a question for you."

"Okay?"

"You know in Cinderella, how she wears glass slippers to the ball? Isn't that a little impractical?" Danny's eyebrow rose at the correct use of the word _impractical _but didn't interrupt, "She even runs in them! What would happen if she landed too hard going down the stairs and the slipper broke? That would be horrible!"

Danny stared at his daughter for a moment before taking a deep breath and bellowing, "Stephen James McGarrett! What the hell have you been telling my daughter?" He turned back to Grace, "I am never letting you watch Disney movies with Steve ever again."

Grace tucked her chin down and blinked up at Danny, innocence personified. That was a Rachel look and Danny had never been able to fight that look. Warily he asked, "What?"

"Steve just left to go rent some more movies. He wants to see just what the evil syndicate of Disney is teaching young and impressionable youth."

Danny groaned and dropped his head back, "Oy Vey."

"Uh huh," Grace said, nodding fast, "He said he would be right back. I think that's why he sent me out here but…"

"You got sidetracked, I know."

"Yeah," Grace giggled, "You didn't answer my question."

Danny sighed, "It's a cartoon. Most cartoons don't make sense. Like in Looney Tunes where Bugs goes to space a lot and doesn't need a spacesuit to breathe."

"Oooh," Grace grinned, "It's just people making stuff up."

"There you go."

"K! I'm gunna run and check that JJ is still sleepin', since you don't have a baby monitor."

Danny smiled and leaned over, kissing her forehead, "That would be great. Thanks monkey."

Grace stood up and was starting into the house, before she stopped and cocked her head, "Danno, what's that smoke?"

Danny looked up and followed her gaze. There was a billow of black smoke wafting over the top of the hedge on the side of the house. Danny frowned and stood up as well, "I don't know. Maybe someone is burning paper or something," He walked past Grace and pressed his hand to her shoulder, "Stay here for a minute."

"K."

Danny walked to the edge of the lanai and stopped, just looking at the smoke for a moment. He could smell the smoke now but he couldn't make out just what it was being burned. The smoke had almost a burning wood smell, like a fireplace in the fall, but something was tainting it. He frowned and walked to the hedge. He was too short to see over the top, but there was a chance he could push enough of the branches out of the way to see through.

He stuck his hands into the hedge and pulled apart, making just a large enough of a gap to peer through. His eyes widened in shock and fear at the flames licking at the wooden paneling of the house, "Shit! Jesus Christ! Grace! Grace!" He whirled around and nearly ran her over.

"Daddy?" She asked, her voice quivering in fear, as he reached out to steady her.

"I need you to do me a favor, monkey, okay? I need you to run next door and call 911. Go the back way along the beach, okay? Mrs. Johnson should be home. Give them Steve's address and tell them there's a fire. I have to go get JJ."

Grace nodded, her eyes wide and terrified. She turned on her heal and took off, Danny on her tail. As she turned towards the beach, Danny made towards the house. He ran through the open lanai door and made for the stairs. He climbed the stairs two at a time and swore when he saw a thin fog of smoke billowing around the hallway.

Hoping that Steve had left his bedroom window open and not JJ's, he pushed open the nursery door. He heard JJ whimpering in his crib and he quickly made his way over to him. He glanced at the window as he passed and saw that Steve had left it open a crack, but a thin stream of smoke was billowing up from the bottom of the wall. Most of the smoke was going back out the window, so the smoke in the hallway was most likely from Steve's room.

Danny lifted JJ up out of the crib and grabbed the thin blanket lying over the side of the crib, using it to cover the infants head. He didn't know what inhaling smoke would do to a baby and he never wanted to find out. He coughed into his shoulder as he repositioned the baby so JJ's face was against his chest and turned to make his way out of the nursery.

He was heading out the front door when he heard the sirens of the fire trucks over the coughing that was getting harder to stop. Danny looked around for Grace and found her standing with Mandy Johnson, Steve's neighbor, who had her arms wrapped around Grace. Knowing his daughter, it was probably to keep Grace from running back to the house and Danny.

Danny made his way over to her and knelt down, giving her hug while trying not to cough into her ear, "You did good monkey."

Grace pulled away, her eyes wet, "Your voice sounds funny…and why do you keep coughing?"

"There was smoke inside the house, sweetie, and I breathed some in when I went to get JJ."

Grace sniffed and peered down at the blanket wrapped bundle Danny was holding, "Is JJ alright?"

"I don't know. The paramedics will check him when they check to see if I'm okay."

As soon as Danny stopped talking, an ambulance pulled up behind one of the fire trucks. Danny looked up at Mandy, "Will you stay with her while I take me and the babe to get looked at?"

She nodded and placed a hand on Grace's shoulder, "No problem, detective."

Danny kissed Grace's cheek, "Love you monkey," He turned away quickly as he couldn't hold back the coughing any longer and made his way to the paramedic who had jumped down from the ambulance.

TBC…


	8. Chapter 8

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 8

Steve pulled out of the parking lot for the video store and turned towards home after a few minutes of deliberating. He still needed some food for the barbeque that night, particularly since there were going to be two extra people attending but decided to hold off on grocery shopping, as Danny was the one who would be making the sides that hadn't been prepped yet. And really, who knew what Danny needed yet from the store. Especially since Danny hadn't deemed fit to tell him what he was planning on making.

The video store was barely five minutes away from the house in good traffic. However, when he hit the street before his own, traffic congestion had picked up. He was one intersection from his turn when a couple of fire trucks and an ambulance flared to life behind him. He pulled over and watched them pass before checking for any further emergency vehicles that might be coming yet. Not seeing any, he sat through a second red and then made his way up to his turn.

When he made the turn, however, he found himself blocked by one of the fire trucks. He leaned out the window and frowned when he saw the other fire truck and the ambulance parked in front of his house. His eyes followed the water hose and gaped at the charred siding of his house, "Jesus…"

Steve put the truck into reverse and backed up enough so he could park on the side of the road then jumped out of the truck and ran down the street. He saw Grace standing with Mandy Johnson and went to her first, "Gracie? Sweetheart, are you okay? What happened?"

Grace threw herself into Steve's arms, "I'm okay, but I think something's wrong with Danno."

"Why's that?" Steve asked, as he swung Grace up into his arms. He glanced up at Mandy, "Thanks. I got her."

Grace wrapped her arms around Steve's neck, "He was coughing pretty hard. He and JJ are over by the ambulance. Said he breathed in smoke."

Steve swore silently. Barely two months had passed since Danny had had the run in with the sarin and the doctor had said at the last check in that while his lungs were almost back to normal, there were things that could set back the progress such as getting a major cold or the flu. If Danny breathed in smoke from what was apparently a fire…Steve turned and walked over to the ambulance.

Danny was sitting on the back of the ambulance, an oxygen mask over his face. JJ was nestled in his arms, kicking at the underside of his arm and waving around a small, stuffed Piglet that was clutched in his hand, "Danno…" was all that he managed to get out. His arms clenched around Grace in an attempt to keep from pulling the man up into his arms and kissing him senseless.

Danny looked up at Steve and rolled his eyes, "_er in_."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "Sorry?"

Danny huffed and pulled the mask away from his face, "We're fine."

The paramedic attending to Danny and JJ sighed and pushed the hand holding the mask back down, "Keep it on, detective," She looked up at Steve, "He is right though. The baby barely inhaled any smoke thanks to Detective Williams' quick thinking, but we do want to take the Detective in and have a couple of tests done. He was coughing pretty hard. It won't take but an hour or two, since we just want to make sure because of his history. I'm fairly positive that the doctors won't find anything."

Steve took a shuddery breath and just nodded. This was not something he was expecting to come home to after a simple run to the video store. He hugged Grace a little tighter to his chest and reached out and ran a finger along JJ's cheek before running his hand through Danny's hair, smoothing down some of the wayward strands, "I'm going to go call Chin. I want the bastard that did this."

Danny stared up at him before nodding. Steve tweaked the hair his fingers were threaded through before turning and stepping away from the ambulance and the noise it was making.

Grace squirmed in his arms, "I wanna stay with Danno."

"I'm not going far, Gracie. Just a few feet. I need to be able to hear Uncle Chin. I'll stand where you can see Danno, okay?"

Grace just nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. Steve pressed a kiss to the top of her head before digging his phone out of his pocket and hitting three on the speed dial.

_"What's up, brah? Backing out of dinner already? Or you want me to come over and get Danny out of the kitchen?"_

"Neither. This is work related."

Steve could practically hear Chin straighten to attention through the phone, "_What's the sitch?"_

"Someone started a fire outside of my house. I wasn't home but Danny was here. He ended up inhaling smoke when he went in to get JJ. Side of the house is wrecked. An accelerant had to have been used to cause so much damage this quickly. I haven't got a close look yet. That's just what I saw walking over to the ambulance," It occurred to Steve then that Chin had no idea who JJ was, but his teammate didn't seem fit to ask, most likely due to the urgency in Steve's voice.

_"All right. I'll give Kono a call, have her meet me there. Give me twenty minutes."_

"Sounds good," Steve hung up and walked back to the ambulance, where they were getting ready to load Danny into the back, "I have to put you down for a minute, Grace, so I can take JJ."

"K," She slithered out of his arms and then looked up at Danny. Her eyes followed the mask down to the machine it was attached to before following it back up, "You'll be okay, Danno?"

Danny handed JJ to Steve, who took a step back and watched as Danny knelt down while tugging the mask away from his mouth, "I'll be fine, promise. Danno loves you, okay?"

"Me too," Grace said, giving Danny a careful hug.

Danny replaced the mask and stood up before turning to Steve, who gave a small smile, "I'll meet you there. I'm going to wait for Chin and Kono," Steve said.

Danny nodded and, after running his hand over the top of Grace's head, climbed into the back of the ambulance. Steve backed away to allow the ambulance doors to close. Danny waved once more as the door shut and the ambulance pulled away.

Grace leaned against Steve's hip, "You should call mom."

Steve looked down at the top of her head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "I should?"

"Yeah," Grace nodded, "You're gunna need her to take me an' JJ while you catch the bad guy that did this."

"That, Grace, is a good idea," Steve winced then as a stray thought came to him, "She's going to throw a fit."

Grace looked up at him, "Why?"

"Because you were put into danger, honey. She's going to be worried," Steve just hoped it wasn't to the point that she'd try to pull custody away from Danny again.

While Rachel wasn't thrilled about the events that had happened, she agreed to pick up the two kids. She arrived before Chin and Kono and whisked the kids away, after assuring Steve that she wasn't going to do anything about the custody. She understood that this wasn't their fault and instead told him to catch the bastards that had put her baby in danger.

Glad that he didn't have kids with him, which oddly enough made him feel very selfish to think about, he walked up to the side of the house. The fire couldn't have been going on for very long, he himself had only been gone twenty minutes at the _most_, but the damage that had been done was astounding.

There was a black patch on the wall that went all the way up to the sill of JJ's window and was a good four feet wide at the bottom along the ground. It was obvious where the fire had been the hottest, even if the fire remains weren't still on the ground weren't proof enough. There were places, in an almost straight line down from the window, that had holes burned straight through the walls.

Steve turned away from the wall and took several deep breaths. He could not believe how close he had come to losing his son and Grace as well. It was just an additional something to be grateful to Danny for.

"Woah."

Steve looked up and saw that Chin and Kono had finally arrived. The cousins were staring at the house in dismay. Neither of them knew about JJ other than a vague reference made to Chin, however, so the looks were aimed towards the fact that Steve's house had been targeted along with the damage and not that his son could have been killed, "Let's get started."

Because it was a personal attack on Steve, Chin and Kono seemed to throw themselves into the case wholeheartedly. They collected what they could from the fire site before Steve sent Chin to the lab with the evidence. He and Kono went to talk to the neighbors and canvas the neighborhood.

While Steve talked to the old man that lived across the street and a house over, Kono looked around for places that the arsonist could have watched the house from and that was in direct line of sight of the fire site and the garage. Steve thanked his neighbor, who hadn't seen anything, and was heading over to the next house when Kono called him over.

There was a set of bushes in a near direct line from the fire, with a nice little niche at the corner of three of them. At the base of the bushes, there was a pile of cigarette butts. Kono grinned up at Steve, "You want to know the one good thing about cigarettes?"

Steve grinned back sharply, "DNA," He nodded and handed her a glove and bag before looking at his watch, "Get those to the lab. I have to go get Danny."

TBC…


	9. Chapter 9

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 9

Danny looked up as Steve walked into the exam room he had been holed up in for the last two hours, "I'm fine. There was no damage done."

"That's good," Steve said, "We found some evidence. Kono and Chin are getting that processed. Some ashes from the fire and a nice pile of cigarettes Kono is hoping to pull some DNA off of."

"DNA is good. I like DNA," Danny frowned, "How do we know it's not just from some neighbor of yours that has been sneaking out of the house and hiding smokes away from the missus?"

Steve shrugged and dropped down onto the bed next to Danny, practically glued to his side,  
>"That's what the DNA is for. I'm being optimistic though, given that there was a direct line of sight to the side of the house from where we found the pile of butts."<p>

Danny grunted and kicked his foot, "Where are the kids?"

"Grace suggested calling Rachel since she knew we were going to go after the bad guys."

Danny nodded, "Smart kid, that girl of mine," He paused and a worrisome thought crossed his mind, "Did Rachel say anything?"

"Well," Steve said, slowly, "She chewed me up one side and down another about it, but told me to inform you that she's not going to pull the same stunt that she did after the football game."

Danny let out a sigh of relief, "One less thing to worry about then. Remind me to thank her later."

The doctor came in just after that and released him, telling him to take it easy and try to avoid running and heavy lifting, anything that would cause exertion on his lungs. Steve assured the doctor that he would keep Danny from doing work that would require running when the doctor shot him a stern look. Danny gave his partner a smug little grin before sliding off the bed.

Once they left, and swung through a drive through to pick up food for the four of them which was not an easy task on the Fourth of July, they headed back to headquarters. When Kono caught sight of them walking in through the door, she started waving at them to join her at the table, "The guy who smoked these cigarettes? Has a record. His DNA was already in the system."

Danny snorted, "Convenient that. And just what is this mystery person in the system for?"

"A link to a weapons trafficking scheme that never panned out. But," She frowned, "There is one more thing."

Danny looked to where Kono was pointing. That tenuous link to the trafficking scheme was as an arms dealer. It wasn't hard to put two and two together with Steve's history, "Shit." His eyes flew to Steve, who was staring at the screen with his hands clenched into fists.

"Steve, he's not on the list of known associates," Danny said, trying to calm the man down. Steve turned haunted eyes his way and Danny had to bite back a string of swearwords. Steve hadn't had that look in his eyes in months and he wanted to punch whoever this bastard was for putting the look back.

"Hesse was the only major arms dealer I dealt with to the degree of making enemies. I was after him for years, Danny, before I left the SEALs. He was a huge deal in arms dealing. It really could be anyone, but I bet this guy is someone close to Hesse," Steve nearly growled at himself at the senseless rambling before stalking off to his office.

Danny watched him go before looking at Kono, who was staring at Steve's office door with wide eyes, "I'll talk to him after he calms down. Now, about this guy…"

"Roger Wells," Kono supplied helpfully, after tearing her gaze from the closed door.

"Right. This Wells guy. He a native to the island or did he fly in?"

Kono bit her lip and popped Wells' personal info up, "Well, he's not native. His license is based out of North Dakota so he would have had to fly in but I can't seem to find him on any of the passenger logs. He could have come in under a false name but to scan back on security videos for a match is going to take some time. I'll have to grab Chin when he gets back but I'll work on the alias angle until he gets here."

Danny nodded, "Sounds good."

Deciding that Steve had had enough time to broad over whatever it was that was bothering him, Danny went to Steve's office and walked right in without knocking, "All right, what's going on?"

Steve, who had been sitting at the desk with his head on his hands, looked up at Danny, "Why did I take him?"

Danny's forehead wrinkled as he squinted in confusion, "Who? JJ?"

Steve sighed, "I knew it was a bad idea. The first thing I thought of when Catherine asked me to take him was about my house being shot up and about the break in when the toolbox was stolen. How did I ever think I could keep JJ safe?"

Danny's eyebrows shot up as a bit of understanding dawned, "Is that was this is about?" Danny slid down into the chair across from Steve's, "Steve, every single cop that is a father or mother has these fears. It doesn't matter if that cop is a seasoned detective or a rookie street cop starting out with their FTO. You have the worry that something is going to come after your kids in payback for something you did. It dogs every parent in the criminal justice field.

"This is just a case of bad timing. I got him out of the house before anything happened to him and we will catch this guy as soon as possible, find out what's really going on. As for keeping JJ safe? You have your gun in the lockbox under the bed, you have the new security system on the house, and a camera set to pan the beach at night. I don't know how much safer you can make it. This was just a huge fluke."

Steve nodded slowly and leaned back, "I know you're right and I have you as an example. You just make it look so simple with Grace, like you don't have any worries."

"Oh, I have a ton of worries. I just learned to compartmentalize it all. Otherwise, Grace would never leave the house and I'd have like, fifty locks on the doors and windows. Especially since I know what's out there."

Steve looked like he wanted to add to that, but someone knocked on the door. Danny turned around and saw Chin standing in the window, waving a sheet of paper. Both he and Steve stood up and walked out, following Chin back to the computer table, "So?" Danny asked.

"There _was_ an accelerant used but it was just acetone. Acetone can be bought at any hardware store, so that's not going to be any help. We'll have to do it the long way and scour the airport security cameras," Chin said, "Kono and I will do that."

Danny nodded thoughtfully, "I want to go through the stolen vehicle reports. If this guy is trying to stay low-key enough to go under a false name, that's possibly gunna be one of the key ways he is getting around Honolulu. He'll want to stay off the radar which means the chances of him using public transport are slim."

"We'll check those as well," Steve hit a few buttons on the computer table and sent a copy of the driver's license to the printer, "Let's go Danny."

TBC…


	10. Chapter 10

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 10

Danny's hunch had been right, at least in the sense that he wasn't using buses and taxis. At Steve's insistence, they had stopped at the main buildings for the different taxi companies as well as the city bus depot. They started at about three hours before the fire as a baseline for when the man would have been traveling. They had talked to all of the drivers who worked during that time, but all agreed that the man did not look familiar at all. While it was possible he was under disguise as well, they decided to check stolen vehicles before they started to Photoshop the photo for different hair colors and styles.

The list of stolen vehicles for the last week totaled out at twenty five cars that had been reported. Steve had shaken his head in bewilderment, "Twenty five stolen cars. Let's hope that Chin and Kono find something on their end, because looking for these cars will take forever and that's even if he stole a car in the first place."

A few seconds after Steve stopped talking and before Danny could formulate a response or think up another idea or angle, Steve's phone started ringing, "Speak of the devil."

"_We found him. We used the time stamp and followed him out of the airport. He used an airport shuttle that goes downtown. It was kind of grainy but his hair was darker and he was wearing a baseball cap and glasses. We wouldn't have gotten him at all if we hadn't used the facial recognition software_."

"All right. Get me a copy of what he looked like and try to get the number off of the shuttle. We'll take a trip out to the airport."

"_On its way, boss."_

Steve relayed the message to Danny on the way out to the car. Danny thanked God that their teammates had found something for them to work with. It took twenty minutes to get across town and during the drive, Chin had relayed the information to Danny's phone. Steve had scowled at that, but Danny pointed out that Steve was driving and Danny certainly did not trust him enough to look at email while going down the highway at fifty miles an hour.

At the airport, it took almost another twenty minutes to get the name of the driver for the particular shuttle that had carried their suspect downtown that day. Given that it had been a week and that drivers switched to different shuttles every shift, the manager had had to dig through piles of loose papers looking for the particular driver log needed.

Of course, the way their luck was going, the driver they were looking for was off shift which meant getting an address and phone number as well. Danny called the man as they were walking out and, thankfully, the guy was home and was willing to talk to them.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember him. He was a cocky asshole, wanting me to stop where there was no shuttle stops on the route. I think he started around Seaside Ave and kept at it till we passed it. Kept saying he would pay a big tip if I did," The guy said, handing Danny his phone back.

"Do you remember where he got off?" Steve asked.

The guy's face twisted up in thought, "Holiday Inn stop another street up. Thought that was kinda weird, ya know, given that he kept offering me that big tip. I guess he could've back tracked to wherever it was he wanted to go."

Danny nodded, "He could've, but you gave us a starting point. Thank you for your help."

They started down the steps and just as they hit the bottom, Steve turned back around, "One more thing. Do you have a map of your route from that day?"

"Sure, sure, hang on a sec."

Map in hand, Steve called Chin as they started to the hotel, "I got the route from the airport to the hotel for the shuttle. See if you can use the traffic cams and back track from the Holiday Inn along Kalakaua Ave. The driver remembered him because he kept trying to get off by Seaside which isn't a stop on the route."

"_You think he backtracked somewhere?"_

"Seems likely. We're going to check at the Holiday Inn just in case, but I'm not expecting anything," Steve replied.

_"All right, I'll see what I can find. I'll call you back."_

Steve hung up the phone and turned onto Kalakaua Avenue. Danny looked at Steve with a frown. They were actually getting further on this case faster than they did with their normal cases, which was understandable, but Steve was clenching his teeth like he did for a case that ran longer than a week. It was actually kind of worrisome but Danny couldn't think of anything to say to relax him. Nor did he want to say the wrong thing and start a fight. While he actually enjoyed their bantered arguments that seemed to accompany almost every car ride, he knew if he tried that now, it wouldn't be bantering. Not with the way Steve's veins were trying to crawl out of his skin.

The hotel didn't help. It was a bust, just like they thought it would be, but Danny had actually had a small bit of hope when they had walked into the Holiday Inn. As they walked back out, Danny felt somewhat wrung out. If he felt that way, he couldn't imagine what Steve was going through.

"We need to take a break, Steve."

Steve grimaced but nodded with a sigh, "Yeah. We can't do anything until Chin calls anyway."

"Chinese? We can take it back to Rachel's, see the kids."

Steve just nodded again and started the truck. Steve agreeing was actually something of a shock to Danny because, not only were they actually taking a break, but the only Chinese place they really enjoyed was at the shopping lot across from Steve's. That would mean heading out to the house and then back tracking again to Rachel's. It really showed how worried Steve was about the case that he did agree without thinking about it.

Steve pulled out of the lot and turned left to make his way to the nearest street that would take them up to the highway. He barely made it the equivalent of a block before Danny saw a familiar face, "Steve, stop the truck."

"What?"

"Pull over!"

Steve barely had the truck pulled into one of the thankfully empty parking spots along the side of the road when Danny threw open the door, "I think I just saw Wells."

Danny slid out of the truck and pulled his gun from his holster. After he checked to make sure Steve was behind him, Danny started jogging down the sidewalk, looking for the red t-shirt and white baseball hat combination that he had spotted on the man that looked like Wells.

After a minute or so, Danny found him again outside of one of the streets many stores. He glanced over his shoulder, "Steve?"

"Got him," Steve dodged around Danny and ran towards their suspect, "Roger Wells!"

Wells looked right at Steve, swore loud enough for Danny to hear, before he turned and took off running down the street with Steve on his tail. Wells ducked into a shop that had its door open and Steve followed him in. Danny, on the spur of the moment, went past the store and around the corner, finding the back door to the store.

When the backdoor opened, Danny made a quick glance to make sure it was a red shirt and not Steve's customary black before sticking his foot out and tripping the man. Wells fell to the ground with a grunt, Steve nearly tripping over him as he barreled out the back door.

Steve dropped to his knees and pressed one of them into Wells' back, long enough for him to stow away his gun and pull out his cuffs. Steve told him he was under arrest and gave him the Miranda, which had Danny puffing up with pride. It seemed like his man was finally learning. When he was certain Steve had Wells in control, Danny fished out his phone to call in for a cruiser.

However, before he could press a button, a quick glimpse of a sign had him doing a double take, "Steve, get him up. We don't need to wait for a cruiser."

"What?" Steve looked up and followed Danny's finger when the man pointed over his shoulder, "Honolulu P.D…that's convenient."

TBC…


	11. Chapter 11 and Epilogue

See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

A/N: With the way the chapters broke down, this last one was really really short, so I just added the epilogue to it. Put the whole thing at a normal chapter length.

Chapter 11 and Epilogue

Steve and Danny stood at the window to their interrogation room at headquarters, watching as Chin and Kono talked Wells into confessing. Steve had wanted to be the one to talk to Wells, but Danny had vetoed that quickly enough. He hadn't wanted to take any chances on them getting this man put away. Steve understood what Danny meant, that Steve's anger and personal feelings towards the man could jeopardize the case if he got carried away, but he wasn't thrilled about it.

_"Did you know that there was a six week old infant asleep in the house when you started that fire? There was also an eight year old girl watching TV."_

Wells face went white, "_I didn't know! I swear I didn't_."

_"Well, we have no proof that you didn't know,"_ Chin said, leaning forward over the table, manfully not showing the surprise he was still feeling from Danny's revelation an hour prior, "_That's attempted homicide right there. Especially since you started the fire right under the nursery window. That will go along great with the arson charge."_

_"Look, man, can't you cut me a deal?"_

Chin hummed thoughtfully, _"Well, that depends on what you offer me. I could drop the attempted homicide to reckless endangerment if you give me something good. Tell me who hired you."_

_"I wasn't hired by anybody. I was getting revenge on McGarrett."_

_"Why?"_

_"He cut off my line of supply, man. I was making good money of the stuff I got from Hesse. When I heard that McGarrett was the one to put him behind bars, I figured a little payback was in order."_

_"So you were gunna burn his house down? You figured that to be a viable revenge plan?"_

Wells shrugged but didn't respond_._

_"All right." _Chin stood up and walked out, Kono trailing behind him. He looked at Steve and Danny, "He'll be extradited out to North Dakota after his trial here for the arson. I don't think they'll keep him here, given his connection with Hesse."

Steve nodded. He figured that was going to be the case, "I'm going to be there when they fly him out."

Danny and Chin exchanged a look, "That's not really a surprise," Danny said, clapping Steve on the shoulder, "Here's an idea," Danny continued quickly, changing the subject, "How about we talk to Rachel about keeping the kids tonight, let her have the big fireworks with them? We can stop and get dinner then swing by the Home Depot, pick up supplies to fix those holes until you can call in a contractor, and you are going to call a contractor so help me God. We can have the barbecue tomorrow? Grace would love to have fireworks two days in a row."

"Yeah, brah. It'll be a good way to celebrate solving this case," Chin said, nodding.

Kono grinned, but her face held a pinched look, "I still can't believe it took the_ case_ to tell us you're a dad now, boss."

Steve rolled his eyes, "You would have found out tonight anyway. Let it go, Kono."

* * *

><p>Epilogue<p>

* * *

><p>Steve looked up from the grill Chin had brought, his being too small to cook for nine people, when he heard Grace scream. She was down in the water with Kono and Ben and Steve had looked up just in time to see the eight year old fly through the air and hit the water. He laughed when she popped up and jumped onto Ben's back in what looked to be a futile attempt to pull him under. He just swung her around and tossed her again.<p>

Chin and Malia, who had only started dating again after Chin was cleared of his charges, were sitting around the table with Rachel and Stan talking about some of the improvements the hospital had made recently. Steve was still boggling over that one, that Danny had invited his ex and her husband to join them. Steve wasn't going to say no, not after all the help Rachel was offering but it was still throwing him for a loop.

Malia had commandeered JJ as soon as she and Chin arrived, cooing over him while Steve puffed up his metaphorical feathers in pride. Rachel had brought the kids back around noon, once Steve had been satisfied with the patch job he and Danny had done on the house. Or, rather, that he had done and Danny had supervised after one of Danny's attempts at helping made the hole bigger.

Kono approached him when he was flipping the burgers, dripping wet which showed she had just left the water, "Hey, can I talk to you as Steve the Friend and not Steve the Boss?"

"Sure," he answered warily and then winced when Kono suddenly whacked him on the head, "Hey! That hurt!" He whined, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"

"We're _ohana_ and you didn't even tell us you had such a cute son! You totally kept him away from us. That's rude, brah!"

"I'm sorry. I was..."

"You were what? Too engrossed in your honeymoon phase with Danny?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Steve looked sheepish, mumbling something.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Yeah, okay, maybe I was too focused on JJ, Danny, and Grace. But in my defense, I really busy setting everything up."

"You know, you could have asked us for help. We'd have gladly done it. And with all the cousins and nephews Chin and I have, we could have supplied a lot of baby stuff."

"I am sorry Kono. Cath dropped the news on me so suddenly that I was completely panicked and at lost. Are you really mad?"

Kono reached out and squeezed his shoulder, "It's okay. I get you felt overwhelmed, but remember us next time you knock someone up," she added joking.

"So no more Steve-whacking?"

"No more Steve-whacking," she agreed, smiling.

"You enjoyed it way too much!" Steve complained.

"Hell yeah! It's not every day you've got a free pass to hit the boss!" she ran away, laughing, Steve hot on her tail.

"Are you going for charbroiled Stephen? I can assure you that Grace does in fact have taste buds that work. Actually, she's rather particular about her burgers so you might want to get two off right now so that there is still a bit of pink in the middle," Danny yelled from afar when Steve didn't come back soon enough.

Steve looked at Danny with a scowl as he made his way back to the grill, "I've grilled burgers with Grace over before and she's never complained."

Danny tilted his head back to meet Steve's eyes, which made him look a little smug, "Not to you, she didn't. She didn't want to hurt your feelings. She informed me after we got home that they were a little on the tough side."

Steve opened his mouth to retort that his burgers were always perfect, when Rachel walked over with JJ, "Your son is in need of a diaper change. As I am officially off duty, I am passing the task on to the proper person."

"I'll take him," Danny said, "Steve is a little proprietary over the grill, even though it's not technically his. He'll spend the rest of the night complaining that I didn't cook the food right."

Danny slipped JJ out of Rachel's arms as Steve spluttered over his shoulder, "Will you stop talking like I'm not right here?"

Danny looked up at Steve, "I'm just telling the truth, babe. You don't want me to start lying now, do you?"

Steve just shook his head and leaned down to press a kiss to Danny's waiting mouth, both of them ignoring the catcalling and whistling that sounded like it was coming at them in surround sound, "Go change him before he starts howling," Steve ran a finger along JJ's palm, which was waving up in the air, "I'll pull two burgers off for Grace."

Danny looked down at JJ, who gave them both a gummy smile, "He's got a minute or two before he starts complaining. I'll make it inside."

Steve watched his partner walk into the house with his son and grinned. Life was looking pretty damn good again. Now…he just had to tell Mary.

~~  
>The End<br>~~


End file.
